Paper-holding spindle



(No Model.)

S. POWELL.

PAPER HOLDING SPINDLB. No. 380,592. Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT SAMUEL POWELL, OF RAVENSWOOD, ASSIGNOR TO KEEN & DE LANG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-HOLDING SPlNDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,592, dated April 3, 1888.

Application tiled December 17, 1887. Serial No. 258,173. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL POWELL, of Ravenswood, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Holding Spindles,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to desk-spindles-such as are used by bankers, merchants, and others for filing papers temporarilyand has for its object to provide an improved spindle adapted to receive checks, bills, or other like papers and retain them in the position in which they are placed and prevent their shifting or turning, whereby any desired paper can be readily found.

A deslespindle as commonly made consists of a slender round wire secured to a base and pointed at its upper end to pierce the papers. Sometimes this piercing end is provided with a barbed head to cancel the papers and also to prevent their working off the spindle, and sometimes this head is fastened to a stem or transfer-strip which enters a hollow standard secured to the base-block, so that the head and stem can be removed in order to free a particular paper or to facilitate the transfer of the papers to a permanent file.

A serious objection to the spindle in corn inon use has been that papers filed thereon 0 were free to turn and twist about the round wire, thus causing loss of time and annoyance in finding a desired paper. To remedy this defect, I provide a spindle with abody of such form that the papers are retained thereon in 5 the position in which they are filed, so as to be readily found, while at the same time it is convenient in use and does not unnecessarily mutilate the papers.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a spindle embodying my invention and provided with a barbed head secured to a fiat stem which enters a hollow standard secured to a baseblock. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the standard and 5 base-block, the barbed head and its stein being shown in side elevation. Figs. 3and4'are similar views of a smaller spindle having a plain head-2 (2., without a barb.

In said drawings, Ais the base-block, which may be hollowed out, as shown in Fig. 4, or

solid, as shown in Fig. 2. To this block is secured in some convenient manner the standard B. This standard, as shown, is hollow and flat in cross-section; but it may be of other form-as, for example,triangular or cylindri- 5 cal-with alongitudinal rib or ribs to prevent the turning of the papers thereon, as shown in the details 13 B. However formed, the standard should have one flattened side or an angle, whereby to prevent the shifting of the papers thereon.

O is the stem or transfer-strip, which is adapted to enter the hollow of the standard; and D the head, which latter is pointed, so as to pierce the papers. The head may be provided with barbs, as d 01, Figs. 1 and 2, or it may be plain, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4:. Of course the head and body of the spindle may be integral, the characteristic of a flattened or angular body being retained.

The papers are usually filed one upon the other with the signatures in the same relative position, and as the form of the spindle prevents their shifting they can be run over rap idly and any one desired readily found, thus obviating the delay and annoyance heretofore incident to the use of desk-spindles.

I claim 1. A desk-spindle consisting of a flattened body adapted to hold the papers and prevent the shifting or turning around of the same while held thereon, a pointed head adapted to pierce the papers and facilitate their filing, and a suitable base to which the flattened body is secured, substantially as set forth. 8 5

2. A desk-spindle having a flattened hollow standard secured to a suitable base, in combination with a transfer-stem adapted to enter the hollow of the standard, and pointed, so as to pierce the papers,substantially as described.

3. A desk-spindle having a flattened hollow standard secured to a suitable base, a transferstem adapted to enter the hollow of the standard, and a barbed head, substantially as described.

SAMUEL POWELL.

\Vitncsses:

G, C. LINTHICUM, WM. S. Barns. 

